Winning Through Boundaries Innovation ― Communities of Boundaries Generate Convergence

At present, many companies consider «knowledge» the most important element and the benchmark for maintaining an enduring competitive advantage. The process of strategically acquiring both new boundaries knowledge and convergence knowledge to generate boundaries innovation becomes an important element in acquiring dynamic organizational capability. This is essential for rapidly establishing a company’s market position in new markets and technologies.
This book discusses from a micro-viewpoint different strategies for companies’ sustainable generation of boundaries innovation through the creation of both types of knowledge. It focuses on strategic management activities centered on innovation processes (incremental innovation and radical innovation) in a company.
In the future, the knowledge convergence processes practiced by individuals, groups and organizations inside and outside the company will form the basis of dynamic innovation activities. These will continually create new boundaries knowledge and convergence knowledge, as well as the organizational capability for supporting these.
The «knowledge convergence firm» this book proposes is a new corporate model that achieves sustainable boundaries knowledge by promoting creative, productive friction among people, and between and amongst communities. It does this by implementing knowledge convergence processes at diverse boundaries within and outside the company.

Mitsuru Kodama is Professor of Innovation and Technology Management in the College of Commerce and Graduate School of Business Administration at Nihon University. He has published nine books in English and in several international academic journals. Prior to academic life, he worked as a project leader at NTT and NTT DoCoMo for some twenty years. He holds BS, MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. He received the R&D 100 Awards 2003 in R&D Magazine (US).